Twenty-nine patients with recurrent malignant brain tumors were evaluated. BCNU (180 mg/m2) was administered iv on Day 1 and 5-fluorouracil (1 g/m2/day) was given by continuous infusion on Days 15--17. Courses were repeated every 6 weeks until tumor progression occurred. Before each course, a neurologic examination and radionuclide and computerized tomographic scans were performed. Response and progression were defined as improvement or deterioration, respectively, in at least two of the three tests. Nine of 29 patients (31%) responded to therapy, five of 29 (17%) showed progression, and 15 of 29 (52%) had disease stability. The estimated median time to progression was 27 weeks for all patients, 34 weeks for the response group, and 25 weeks for the stable group. Of all 29 patients, 24 (83%) had tumor progression arrested; 40% with response and 6% with stable disease were continuing therapy after 1 year. The stable disease group was larger and the duration of stability was longer than that seen in previous studies. Evaluated by time to progression, a BCNU-5-fluorouracil combination is superior to either BCNU alone or a BCNU-procarbazine combination.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Chemosensitization of carmustine with maitake beta-glucan on androgen-independent prostatic cancer cells: involvement of glyoxalase I.
J Altern Complement Med
October 2002
Department of Urology, New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY 10595, USA.
Objective: To improve the poor efficacy (< 10%) of chemotherapy for patients with hormone-refractory prostate cancer, we investigated a possible cytotoxic effect of carmustine/beta-glucan combination on prostatic cancer PC-3 cells, focusing on a glutathione-dependent detoxifying enzyme, glyoxalase I (Gly-I).
Methods: Carmustine (BCNU) is an anticancer agent and a putative inhibitor of Gly-I, while beta-glucan is a unique, nontoxic polysaccharide extracted from maitake mushrooms. The cytotoxic effects of BCNU or other anticancer agents with beta-glucan on PC-3 cells were assessed by cell-viability testing and Gly-I activity was measured using the spectrophotometric method.
Adverse (tumor-enhancing) effects of cyclophosphamide at moderate dose (50 mg/kg) given therapeutically were confirmed on the intraperitoneally implanted Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) in allogeneic DBA/2 and BALB/c mice. It was recently demonstrated that antitumor effects of five standard drugs (actinomycin D, adriamycin, BCNU, 5-fluorouracil and methotrexate) were abolished or diminished when cyclophosphamide (50 mg/kg) was therapeutically combined with such drugs against intraperitoneally implanted LLC both in syngeneic C56BL/6 and allogeneic DBA/2 and BALB/c mice, while the effects of three drugs (cis-diamminedichloroplatinum, 5-thioguanine and vincristine) were not affected by the cyclophosphamide therapy. It is suggested that cyclophosphamide therapy at adjusted lower doses in man might not only be effective but also have a risk to enhance tumor growth and diminish the beneficial effects of other drugs in combination chemotherapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFifty-eight patients harboring recurrent malignant brain tumors were evaluated. CCNU (110 mg/m2) was administered on Day 1, procarbazine (60 mg/m2) was administered daily for 14 days beginning on Day 8, and vincristine (1.4 mg/m2) was administered on Days 8 and 29 of each 6-week cycle of therapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBCNU-5-fluorouracil combination therapy for recurrent malignant brain tumors.
Cancer Treat Rep
December 1978
Twenty-nine patients with recurrent malignant brain tumors were evaluated. BCNU (180 mg/m2) was administered iv on Day 1 and 5-fluorouracil (1 g/m2/day) was given by continuous infusion on Days 15--17. Courses were repeated every 6 weeks until tumor progression occurred.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!